A Classic Scheme Too Good To Be 'Cliche'
by Poodie
Summary: The time finally comes where Inojin, Shikadai, Chocho and Mitsuki have had enough of Boruto and Sarada's nonsense. And because of this, they plot to get them together. With just about the results you'd expect... /Birthday Fic for iBloo!


**A/N: Hello! I AM FINALLY HERE WITH THIS POST THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN OUT SINCE MONTHS AGO! A YEAR AGO TO BE A LITTLE MORE EXACT.**

**The next gen are 16 or 17 here (you can consider this out of the canon universe), and for some reason, my brother and I are convinced Inojin has an English accent. That would be why he speaks as though he has the Queen's English...it also makes him seem more haughty XD Just go with it.**

**IMPORTANT: This is a VERY belated birthday fic for the wonderful iBloo! Check out her content if you are enamored with the SasuSaku and BoruSara couples ;) That's where I get my fill! **

"**XxX" means a major change in scene (such as skipping many hours or a completely different location) "OoO" simply means a change in focus (as in which characters, if they're not all interacting with each other, are given 'screen time')**

**Warning: Characters have potty mouths...because so do I XD Boruto is also HIGHLY exaggerated. You've been warned.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_**Naruto **_**or **_**Boruto. **_**Obvious from the blatant lack of excessive shipping XD**

**XxX**

"That's beside the point Boruto!" Sarada stressed for the nth time, "Your carelessness and inconsideration could have gotten Mitsuki and myself killed-"

"Or injured, which Mitsuki would have easily healed," Boruto argued back. "I didn't intend for you guys to get hurt, and you didn't. So what's the big deal?"

"The _big deal, _as I've been trying to tell you for the past ten minutes, is that we _could _have gotten hurt!" _-You could have gotten hurt- _she meant.

Boruto sighed and Mitsuki smiled. He had been standing on to the side ever since his teammates started their lover's quarrel (as he dubbed it). The whole disagreement began because of when Boruto decided to ditch the plan.

The three of them and their backup were to retrieve battle strategies from a neighbouring village that had been sending the Hokage, and other Leaf supriors, death threats. They were told by a reliable source that the small village planned to attack Konoha, despite being only half its size. Not wanting to take any chances, the Seventh had sent them out on the A rank mission. The plan was for Boruto -under transformation jutsu- to grab as much attention as physically possible; Sarada and Mitsuki would then proceed to get the plans. But somewhere along the way -between his kicking, screaming and running, the blond decided that he would acquire what they were looking for far faster than his teammates, and, instead of leading the hoard of ninja and angry citizens _away _from the safe base (where they were to find the plans), he rounded on the mob and ran _straight _through them. He ran directly into the base at top speed, setting off all the alarms, and sent a rasengan flying into the -conveniently- main room (recklessly destroying _multiple _walls before actually reaching the desired location). He then proceeded to use shadow clones to ransack the area in search of the papers. But immediately stopped once Sarada came into the room (cue all four clones to stop what they were doing to stare at her) and told him that Mitsuki had found what they looking for. She had been mad, but kept her cool as they leaped from the building and hastily made to hide from the mob.

It was behind a dumpster where Boruto's lecture had started; and he made the situation even worse by initially ignoring her.

Now here they are, somewhere in the middle of the forest, waiting for their backup.

'_Speak of the devils,' _Mitsuki thought.

Just as it seemed like Sarada was about the knock Boruto into next week, Inojin, Shikadai and Chocho showed up.

'_Talk about being saved by the bell.'_

"I've never thought I'd be so happy to see you guys," the Uzumaki boy commented exasperatedly.

"I am quite sure in my belief of never being happy to see you," Inojin smiled.

"Boruto…" Shikadai started rubbing his forehead, and the blond knew he was in for more.

"Look, I know, okay? _Ms. Perfect_ here already told me," Boruto rolled his eyes. With that, Sarada fumed even more.

"There is nothing wrong with wanting to follow through with the procedure, _Mr. Delinquent."_

"Yeah, but you don't have to be all up my ass about it! We got the plans! Mission done!"

The Uchiha let out a loud frustrated groan and stormed off somewhere to the side, deliberately kicking at the grass and shrubs in her way.

"Sarada!" Chocho called out, already following her friend.

"She won't go far," Boruto mumbled, arms folded and scowl in place.

Shikadai just turned to Inojin and the two of them merely shrugged. _Nothing uncommon. _The arguments that usually ensued would sometimes be louder than this (thank Boruto for constantly screaming), and though never physically violent, it would obviously be a dangerous time to be in the presence of the two.

"You know," the shadow nin began, "you two need to stop denying your feelings and just get together."

"Enough with that stuff! Every time Sarada and I fall out with each other, one of you," he frantically threw his finger in the direction of the three boys, "are always saying that we like one another!"

"Couples argue all the time," Inojin put in while Mitsuki nodded in agreement.

"We are not a _couple!_"

If Shikadai had had his eyes closed like he normally would; and if Inojin had been shaking his head in disappointment; or even if Mitsuki wasn't as observant as he was, maybe they would have missed the slight hurt that flashed in Boruto's eyes -and perhaps they would have written off the pain in his voice as simply sore vocal cords. But they were paying him as much attention as they would a pretty girl. They didn't miss the tell tale signs.

**XxX**

Sarada stood at the edge of a small river, her arms folded and her eyes slightly watery. She opted to ignore the presence approaching from behind in favor of glaring at the river through blurry eyes. Taking off her glasses, she rubbed her face with her sleeve, knowing well that her _still _too common eye problem wasn't the cause of the blurriness _this _time.

The Uchiha felt rather than heard the snack pack being opened; and even though she had already known that it was Chocho who had followed her, the familiarity of the smell of salted potato chips and the quiet crunching sound brought an assurance she didn't know she needed.

The Akimichi took two more handfuls of the delicacy before stretching out her hand that held the pack in a sign of offering. Sarada couldn't help but take one.

Even though Team 7 was close enough to consider each other family, outside of the two boys -and Sensei- Chocho was the only other person Sarada knew she could rely on. Despite the fact that Boruto and Mitsuki would drop anything they were doing to help her out in a time of need, Chocho brought a different air of reassurance, as a fellow female. Unlike Boruto (though mostly appreciated), she wouldn't come bellowing in demanding answers or names, but instead choosing casual questions, in a considerably softer voice. Chocho's laid back and the-devil-may-care attitude gave her a cool disposition that was comfortable to be around. Much like Mitsuki, the darker skinned girl had quite a bit of patience (though still less than him). Sarada and Chocho had been through too much together to consider each other anything but best friends. Which is why there were no words exchanged between them for a while. Nothing but chips.

"Don't you think you're being a little overdramatic?"

"No, I do not."

A sigh. "Then tell me why you're acting this way."

"Chocho…" Sarada started quietly, only now turning to look at her friend, "he could have died. He may not value his life, but Mitsuki and I _do."_

"So," she moved to sit at the edge of the river, "tell him that. Maybe he'll think it over once you let him know," Chocho smirked to herself. "You can't really expect him to figure that out for himself," leaning in as if to whisper, "he isn't exactly the brightest of the bunch."

Sarada felt slightly annoyed by that comment. She trusted that Boruto was just as perceptive in these things as he was on a mission. But still, she wasn't able to help but let her anger dissipate in favor of amusement. A small chuckle escaped and she saw her friend smiling.

Another chip. "Why don't you tell him?"

"I think Boruto understands the dangers of a retrieval mi-"

"Not _that."_

Sarada stared at her wide-eyed, cocking her head to the side. "I'm not sure what you're talking about then."

"I think you do," Chocho wiggled her eyebrows, but Sarada just stared.

"Oh come on girl! Isn't there _anything _else that you want to tell him?"

"Well, I'd prefer if he'd stop talking with food in his mouth, he knows how much I hate that," Sarada had her hand on her chin as the other girl face-palmed.

"No! Not that!"

"Then what? What do you want me to tell him?"

"Ohmuhgawd! How about how you feel?" Chocho tried, but the Uchiha's eyes darken at this as a shadow casts on her face.

"How I feel? Maybe I feel annoyed when he doesn't listen to orders. I feel frustrated when he doesn't pay me attention when I speak to him. I tense when he gets too comfortable. I feel _scared _when he does something that can surely have him killed," Sarada slipped down to her knees, hands on the ground in front of her supporting her weight.

"I feel useless when I know he's out of my league…" a blush crept up on her face as she said this, but Chocho was already smiling like a Mad hatter, and she knows it's too late to take it back.

"Close enough."

"Chocho...no," Sarada sighed tiredly, "Nothing's going to on between the two of us."

"Girl, don't be like that," she pouted, but watched as Sarada slowly got up to walk across the river with chakra infused feet.

"Just leave it alone," the dark haired kunoichi perked up slightly, "I read that this area has some ruby roman grapes. I'm going to pick out some to take back home."

Chocho rolled her eyes and turned away while her friend jumped away. She knew that the only reason Sarada was going for the fruit was so she could stall before having to head to the rendezvous point. _Before she had to head back to where Boruto was._

Unhurriedly, the Akimichi made her way back from whence she came. Her mind was made up. She was surprised, though, to find that Sarada had managed to get back before she did. What wasn't a surprise however, was that she found Boruto standing next to her. Apologizing. Chocho wasn't close enough yet to hear what they were saying, but she could tell by the slight blush on both their faces, and the way Boruto had his hand behind his head, that they were most probably saying their sorrys and making good again.

'_But not getting together dammit!' _she thought.

As she finally got into earshot, she heard the last of it.

"I promise not to disobey your orders again, _future Hokage-sama,_" Boruto smiled and playfully bowed.

Sarada smiled back as her blush deepened, refusing to turn away so help her Uchiha-pride.

Off to the side, Shikadai shook his head. "I swear, whenever they get like _that,_" he pointed at the two who were now teasing each other, "they forget that other people are around them."

"Are you disgusted by their blatant love for one another?" Inojin questioned with a grin.

"No, I'm annoyed by their denial. It's too bothersome to keep their feelings under wraps."

"They don't seem to think so," the blond deadpanned.

"Boys," Chocho marched up to them, and as they looked at her, they subconsciously knew what was what.

"We've got to get these two together!" they said in usion. They blinked, a bit surprised by the connection, but shrugged it off.

"I agree," Mitsuki suddenly commented. Chocho looked towards him before smiling.

"I'm glad so."

"'_I'm glad so'_?" Inojin made a face, "What the hell Chocho? That sounds like it makes no sense."

"'_Sound' _being the keyword," She brushed it off, and the three boys did the same. There were more important things to work on anyway.

**XxX**

They were passing through the village gates now. It was late in the evening, but the Sun was generous enough not to beat down on them, instead casting a beautiful orange and pink glow across the sky, while simultaneously warming their skin in a calming way.

"Alright!" Boruto stretched his hands above his head, "after mission report, who's up for some dango? Shikadai's treat!"

"What?!"

"Nah," Chocho feigned a yawn, "I'm tired."

"I also don't feel hungry," Mitsuki added, feigning a yawn just like Chocho -in which Boruto watched him suspiciously because he had been convinced Mitsuki didn't know how to yawn.

"Sounds good to me," Sarada looked to Inojin, waiting for his response. He merely shook his head, but offered to make the report.

"Yeah, you guys go on ahead and get some grub," the Akimichi girl shooed them, "us four will make the report."

"But-"

"No 'buts'," she cut Sarada off, waving her hand in dismissal, "you two did most of the heavy lifting on the job, just let us do the boring part while you relax."

Sarada knew Chocho was being a bit too eager. Normally, the other girl hated the paperwork. But as the Uchiha thought it over, she knew Chocho to be fair -enough to the point of doing what she hated if it meant pulling her weight. So she decided to ignore it and go relax like her friend said.

"You don't have to tell _me _twice," Boruto grinned, giving them a thumbs up in thanks, then turning around to run off. He then came back, grabbed Sarada's wrist, and ran off. Again.

"Perfect.." Chocho was rubbing her hands together in way that could only be described as deviously, a shadow cast across her face.

"Dear God, what did we get ourselves into?" Shikadai drawled.

"Mitsuki!" The Akimichi suddenly shouted, causing Inojin and Shikadai to tense for a second, "follow them. Then come back to me and tell us how their date went."

"If he returns to _you, _how in hell is he going to tell _us _what happened?" Inojin asked dispassionately.

"Leave my Grammar alone!"

"'_Date'_?" Mitsuki raised his eyebrow.

"Yes, '_date',_" Chocho smirked, "If it's just the two of them, then it's a date."

"Not really," Shikadai input.

"What," Chocho turned a bored face to him.

"They are the most stubborn people we know," he shrugged, "they would deny it being a date _so much _that the _world _will start to deny it too."

"Stop ruining my fun!" she considered what he said, and he wasn't wrong. The thought frustrated her, but not much could be done about it. Not now anyway.

"Should I still follow?"

"Yes...just in case," rubbing hands commenced.

Mitsuki nodded in understanding, taking to the rooftops in pursuit of his teammates.

"And us..?" The Nara asked carefully, afraid of what she'd say.

"_We _go and file the report."

"Oh thank God, it's something normal," Inojin let out a loud breath as he held his hand to his chest dramatically. Chocho chose to ignore that statement.

As the dark skinned girl made way to the building tops, Shikadai pulled the blond boy back to whisper in his ear. "I wouldn't thank God yet."

**XxX**

From atop the roof of a secluded building, Mitsuki watched with a bored expression. A sigh escaped his lips as his teammates _once again _avoided a situation that could have led to a heart to heart conversation. They sat slightly turned away from one another on a bench in the Center Park, one stick of dango in their hands while three more lay unattended on a sheet of paper between them. He smiled at the thought of what they might do once it came to the fifth dango stick.

Boruto picked up another treat, made a comment, and then quickly devoured it. Sarada didn't seem to care, but she also started on her second stick with much vigor -albeit with more eloquence. As they came to the last one, they exchanged some words, and blushes formed on their faces. Mitsuki smiled as he thought of them eating from the same stick, and then maybe accidentally kissing. Boruto picked up the stick slowly, bringing it to his mouth as Sarada leaned in. Mitsuki found himself stretching forward in anticipation.

'_I may actually have something worthwhile to tell the others!'_

But he didn't. Boruto suddenly threw the stick practically halfway across Konoha, which earned him a slap on the cheek, and a lecture possibly on the maintenance of the environment. The two then got up and walked separate ways, though Boruto was actually stomping.

Mitsuki sighed and let his head hang. "They are impossible."

**XxX**

The next morning, inside her bedroom, Chocho held a pencil to her mouth as she studied what she wrote on her notebook. Two figures jump through her window and land expertly on her floor.

"Glad you guys actually came on time," she commented without looking up.

"Yes well, you're welcome. But excuse me if I'm still a bit tired," Inojin huffed, "I had to wake up _two hours _earlier than this one just to wake _him _up."

Shikadai merely shrugged as he threw himself on Chocho's bed alongside her.

"No sleeping!" she tapped him repeatedly, which worked in preventing him from closing his eyes.

"Has Mitsuki not arrived?" Inojin asked while he sat himself down on the green bean bag.

"No, not-" she was cut off by the third figure appearing suddenly, "-yes...yes he has."

"Morning," both boys yawned out to their final member.

"Now that we're all here, let's hear what happened between-"

"Can we get breakfast?" Shikadai drawled out.

"What? No," Chocho made a face at them, "prioritize please. We have to know what happened last night between Boruto and Sarada."

"Well if we die before that happens, blame only yourself," Inojin commented and Mitsuki smiled towards the only female in the room. She groaned.

**XxX**

"Now that you morons have had food," she started while leaning back against the kitchen counter, "can you please let us know what happened?"

Mitsuki nods. "Nothing."

"I could have told you that," Shikadai used the fridge to support his weight.

"Well, apart from Boruto littering, nothing happened."

"That's a new one," Inojin snorted from his place in front the stove.

"Oh come on!" Chocho cried, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. Mitsuki merely shrugged.

Shikadai chuckled. "Can you imagine Boruto, '_hey Sarada, I heard you like bad boys,' _and then he litters."

Inojin snickered at that. "More like, and then she slaps him!"

"Actually," Mitsuki started, "she did hit him afterward."

Inojin's and Shikadai's eyes widened at their accuracy before they burst into a fit of laughter. Chocho started making her way out the kitchen, the three boys automatically following her back to her room.

"Well lucky us, I spent all night coming up with a plan," she smirked.

"'_A' _plan? You spent all that time coming up with _one _plan," Inojin snorted again.

"Yes," Chocho responded confidently, "but one successful plan is better than a bunch of useless ones."

"She's not wrong," Shikadai, of all people, backed her up. The blond Yamanaka boy, for his part, simply nodded in agreement, seeing the logic. They stood almost like scattered clothing all about her bedroom.

"Is it ready for discussion?" Mitsuki raised an eyebrow.

Chocho hummed as she picked up her discarded notebook from her bed. Flipping to the page, she showed them her plan.

"I call it, operation '_A Lot More Fish In The Jealou-sea'_!"

Inojin made a face. "Seriously?"

Shikadai sighed and Mitsuki's smile widened.

"It's simple," she started explaining, "all we have to do is make Boruto jealous."

The three boys nodded, then they furiously shook their heads.

"There is no way I'm flirting with _Sarada!_"

"I would rather die!"

"I don't think that would be very productive for our friendship, or your plan."

Chocho rolled her eyes. "I wasn't talking about _you _guys. I know the perfect people to help us in this situation."

The three boys sigh in relief. Then Shikadai asked, "Who?"

**XxX**

"So will you help us?" the dark skinned girl smiled brightly in hopes of winning them over.

"I don't know…" Denki blushed, a hand behind his head.

"Oh come on," Inojin rolled his eyes.

Iwabe and Metal choose to remain silent in hopes of being forgotten.

'_Take one for the Team Denki.'_

"Maybe one of these fine gentlemen would be a better choice?" Denki proposed awkwardly, immediately throwing both Iwabe and Metal under the bus with him. The two boys, for their part, started panicking inwardly as they tried to come up with some excuse to leave.

"My father wants me to train 24/7 for the rest of my life!"

"I think I will be getting a headache today, so sorry!"

Chocho looked on boredly as the three boys of Team 5 started inching themselves away while spewing nonsense about being unavailable. She sighed in exasperation, when suddenly Shikadai's shadow shot forward, trapping the boys in their escape.

"You three will do it, so we can move on with our lives!" the Nara boy glared. "You all can do it at the same time, taking the pressure off of each other."

After struggling to remove themselves from the infamous shadow grip, the boys simply gave up and nodded in agreement.

"Perfect!" Chocho chirped while Inojin and Mitsuki subjected themselves to face-palming.

"I know exactly where Sarada is right now. Mitsuki, go find Boruto; Inojin will let you know when to lead him in the direction of her."

The snake like boy nodded before jumping off to find his best friend as Shikadai released the jutsu.

"You three come with me," the Akimichi girl quickly jumped off as the three guys scrambled to their feet in following her.

"What a drag."

**XxX**

Chocho stood in the alley way of two buildings, exactly opposite to where the Uchiha girl sat reading a book. She used the shadows to cover her presence as Iwabe, Denki, Metal and now Inojin lined the wall behind her.

"Okay," she turned back to the boys, "Sarada is over there in front of the cafe under the table umbrellas. Remember: be flirty."

The three gulped audibly as they eyed the girl. Any other day and Iwabe would have simply smashed the Nara boy's face into the ground the minute he released the jutsu. But after having received a personal talk from the Hokage himself -not a clone- not too long ago about him being suspended from Shinobi work for a whole _year _should he cause any more unnecessary damage, Iwabe was feeling considerably _less _violent towards the random people who were forcing him to flirt.

Denki, at this point, was quite positive he would overheat from all the blushing he was doing; and he was sure Metal was feeling pressured in much a similar way to himself.

Iwabe turned around to face the other two guys, immediately throwing his arms around their shoulders in a huddle -as was their custom when it came to missions.

"Look, if we all focus on the same thing at the same time, we wouldn't overwhelm her, or scare her off. The only problem-"

"Oh stop behaving as if you're planning the next great war," Inojin rolled his eyes for the nth time that day. "All you have to do is go on over there and say, '_Sarada, do you not look lovely today,' _and before she can say anything other than a thank you, continue with, '_Oh how your eyes sparkle beyond the compare of the stars. Your beauty is above that of any woman who exists, or has ever has existed. Your hair like a'-"_

"Dude, what the shit?" Chocho cringed, "not only is that cheesy, but Goddamn I could have been convinced that _you _like her!"

"What? Ew, no," Inojin made a gagging motion with his hand for emphasis. "It's called being poetic."

"It's called being _phoneytic _because you'd be lying," she deadpanned.

"And you really believe any compliments these boys would have to pay would be genuine? You are literally forcing them to flirt," the blond retorted.

"Nevermind any of that," she waved him off. "You guys go on ahe...where'd they go?" she almost panicked as the trio of boys were nowhere to be seen. As she frantically spun in a circle, Inojin pushed past her to look around the corner.

"Oh dear God," he gasped horrified.

"What? What is it?" she peeked over his shoulder.

"They've gone off ahead to flirt!"

"Oh..well that's not so bad," Chocho let out a breath.

"But what if they're terrible at it?!"

**...**

Sarada sat quietly enjoying her book and tea. There were hardly any times that she could get alone to herself. Not that she didn't love her family and friends to death; just that sometimes a person could just use the company of a good story and a quality flavored drink, rather than the presence of multiple people -or a person loud enough to feel like there are multiple people.

At that thought she found herself smiling.

_Boruto._

He was honestly the light of her world. Her parents would always be _the world _to her, as well as her friends. But without Boruto, everything would just seem...pointless. The thought was funny considering that the blond loud-mouth hardly did anything with a reason other than 'just because'. A lot of things didn't hold much sentimental value to him. But almost everything did to her.

Sighing at her weird train of thought, she opted to return to reading, but as she opened up the book again, in her peripheral vision, she caught sight of three seemingly familiar figures closely approaching.

"Good morning!" Metal Lee announced, causing the Uchiha girl to raise her eyebrows in surprise.

"Oh, good morning Metal," she turned to the other boys smiling nervously, "and Denki, Iwabe."

The boys seemed to fidget in their place, a constipated facial expression forming by the second.

"Are you guys feeling oka-"

"YOU ARE VERY BEAUTIFUL!" Denki (God...of all people, why _him_) shouted. Then, noticing his outburst, his hand quickly clamped down on his mouth and his face burned red.

"As he said!" Iwabe tried to save his friend. "This environment does wonderfully for your complexion!" but it came out sounding forced and he simply dug his own grave. Metal fared no better.

"That's very kind of you to s-"

"Quick, before you can say anything other than a thank you! Oh how your eyes sparkle beyond the compare of stars!" He started quoting Inojin.

"Your beauty's above that of any woman!" Iwabe continued while Denki practically dies of embarrassment.

"Guys! What's going on?!" She desperately tried to get out of the very weird situation that she was currently in.

"Your hair has a radiance the onyx gem cannot achieve!"

"Guys?!" she backed up off her chair, eyes widened and heart pounding.

'_What the actual fuck has gotten into them?!'_

"For you, we would die!" Metal proclaimed.

"Speak for yourself," Iwabe mumbled -out of character considering that he was supposed to be enamored with Sarada.

The two boys were practically cornering the Uchiha girl. Denki couldn't muster up enough courage again to pursue her, and he stood there hoping the ground would open up and swallow him whole. Sarada felt exactly as he did.

"Hey you stupid shits!"

At that, the two boys whipped around in surprise, only to get their faces smashed in by multiple fists. The Boruto clones trample all over Iwabe and Metal, while one ventures off to hit Denki with two slaps.

Chocho and Inojin watched from by the wall with confusion and excitement plastered on their faces.

"Your plan is actually proceeding brilliantly!" the pale blond boy commented in astonishment.

"I am the Goddess of plan creation," she replied smugly.

"Hold up," Shikadai dropped down next to them, "let's wait until the confession to call this a success."

They nodded and turned their attention back to the...beat down. Poor Metal and Iwabe were taken off guard, and with so many Borutos outnumbering them, they didn't stand a chance at getting an opening.

"Boruto, that's enough! Stop it!" Sarada shouted out at him. And just like that, the clones seem to disappear immediately at her command. "I could've handled that, you didn't need to swoop in like that and beat them up!"

"Uh... I didn't do that for you," he looked around as if she were crazy. Sarada blushed at her mistake, and somewhere in the background Mitsuki facepalmed. Chocho's smile fell and Inojin proceeded to bang the side of his head on the wall he was leaning against.

"I knew he was gonna fuck this up," Shikadai drawled with a bored expression.

"These guys owe me money," the Uzumaki boy explained.

"Oh, my bad," Sarada stepped back, looking at the overturned table and chairs caused by Boruto's recklessness. A waiter ran over to ask what happened, and while Boruto told him, the Uchiha girl picked up her discarded book that was trampled on in the stampede, left a tip on the floor, then made her way past them, quietly apologizing to the boys laying on the floor.

Mitsuki jumped into her field of vision.

"Are you alright? I saw what happened," He asked, feigning ignorance.

"Yeah I'm good, but those two could use some of your medical ninjutsu," she directed him to Metal and Iwabe who looked worse for wear.

"Oh yes," and he made way to their aid.

Sarada sighed to herself at how stupid she had been.

'_Of course Boruto wouldn't be knocking them out because of me, he already knows that I can do that myself,' _the idea isn't as reassuring as she wanted it to be.

"She's walking away!" Chocho whisper yelled.

"Save the plan! Save the plan!" Inojin panicked, frantically throwing his arms every which way.

Shikadai is then forced out of their hiding spot to approach Sarada. But out of spite, he walked over to Boruto instead.

"What is he doing?!" the blond Yamanaka boy strained his vocal cords to remain quiet.

Shikadai passed Mitsuki like a full bus, trying not to look suspicious since he never quite hung out with the snake like boy before, and surely would raise eyebrows now.

"Yo Boruto," he looked around the area acting as if he didn't know what happened, "who pissed you off?"

The Uzumaki boy simply growled and rolled his eyes, dismissing the waiter.

"Iwabe, Metal, and Denki lost a bet two weeks ago. They've owed me money since."

"What was the bet?"

"Who could eat the most dumplings."

Shikadai simply looked at Boruto with a 'you're-so-stupid' expression. Then something dawned on him.

"Wait...what reminded you about that?"

"Mitsuki," Boruto pointed over to the medic attending to the fallen, "he came up to me and said that I needed to go get the money that was owed. And damn was he right, these guys would have never come back humbly to give it to me!"

Shikadai slowly turned to face the snake boy.

**XxX**

Chocho stood next to her bed, rapidly smacking Mitsuki on the head. His face was sad, while Shikadai glared at him.

"My God Mitsuki! You had one job!" Inojin scolded him.

"I'm sorry."

The Akimichi girl ceased in her punishment with a sigh.

"We know that you are, but you were supposed to find _something _else to get Boruto to run in Sarada's direction," she grumbled begrudgingly, thoroughly upset over the whole ordeal. "We told you not to use that."

"We all know that Boruto would have fucked it up if money was a prospect," Shikadai elaborated, turning his glare to the ground instead, "like he did."

'_Damn fool.'_

"I figured he would have forgotten about that by the time he saw Sarada," Mitsuki shrugged innocently.

"He wouldn't," the other three responded in usion.

"I see that now," he nodded.

"Now what?" Chocho pouted, "that was supposed to be it! They were supposed to get together with that brilliant plan! But now look...nothing," she kicked at some of the junk on her bedroom floor, looking completely downtrodden.

"We give up," Shikadai sighed, "who cares if they die alone? How is that even our problem?"

"Because-" Chocho is cut off by Mitsuki.

"Because their happiness is of utmost importance! We should care about them emotionally," he said it with a confidence enough to convince a wall. Too bad the other three people in the room were basically potatoes.

Shikadai and Inojin erupted in a fit of sarcastic laughter.

"What?" the dark skinned girl made a face, "No, I was going to say because it's annoying to watch them dance around one another."

"So your reasoning is entirely selfish?" Mitsuki was utterly shocked, having thought the whole operation was far more genuine than that.

"Yeah."

"Basically."

"Obviously," Inojin snorted, "a part of us truly wishes for them to be happy, but the greater contributor to our efforts is selfishness, yes."

Mitsuki couldn't believe what he was hearing as he watched them nod in agreement with one another. He supposed that it's better than the alternative though.

With an accepting sigh, the snake like boy shrugged.

'_At least _some _of them cares...I think.'_

Despite their happiness at an honest revelation, there still lied the fact that Chocho's plan had failed, and now they were stuck at square one. Again.

"We could have been putting another plan into action had we known not to have so much faith that Chocho's would have succeeded," Inojin sighed.

Even though the Akimichi girl wanted to be offended, she knew that he was right. They should have been plotting more...even if her plan was perfect.

**XxX**

Chocho laid comfortably snuggled on her bed, cushioned by a pillow on either side of her. The pillows were unusually warm (and stiff), but she was still cozy.

Suddenly, out of virtually nowhere, Shikadai busted through her bedroom door demanding that she wake up despite it being late at night.

"Chocho! I got-" he was stopped in his tracks at the sight.

There was Chocho, cuddled by Inojin and Mitsuki at her sides. They were sound asleep, and quite frankly, the visual was disturbing him. He picked up one of her discarded shoes, throwing it at the right angle just to hit both her and the pale blond boy on their foreheads.

Inojin and Chocho woke with a start (lousy ninja for not being alert, even in sleep). Their eyes land on one another, and Inojin flied off the bed so fast that it appeared as if he had been hit by a paper-bomb.

"When the fuck did that happen?! I'm soiled!"

"Stop being dramatic!" the dark skinned girl couldn't keep the disgust out of her voice though. "Mitsuki! Get up!"

"I have been awake this entire time."

"Then why are you on my bed?"

Shikadai decided at this point that they were wasting valuable time, so he ignored Inojin washing his..everything (clothes on and all) in the background, and got to the point.

"I have a plan!"

"For what?" her groggy voice would have been enough to send him off any other day. But not today. He had a mission!

"A plan to get Boruto and Sarada together!"

"I thought you gave up?" Mitsuki inputted, still comfortably situated on Chocho's bed at her side.

"Yeah..I did, but then I changed my mind," he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"He does this all the time!" Inojin shot out from the in-room bathroom.

"Who cares what he does or doesn't do! Tell us the plan!" Chocho squealed as she jumped from her bed in excitement to tackle the standing boy.

"Took you longer than I thought...anyway, everything will run smoothly if you all do as I say," he smirked devilishly.

Somehow, from his place at the bathroom door, Inojin knew that Shikadai's reasoning this time around was entirely pure.

Purely selfish that is.

**XxX**

"We have to go get what now?" Boruto questioned for the nth time.

"A blabberblart," Inojin enunciated, "your distant cousin."

"One day I _will _hit you for those damn comments," the Uzumaki boy threatened while the pale blond merely shrugged with a smile.

"I've never even heard of these things before," Sarada looked at them suspiciously, squinting slightly.

"Because we've never spoke about them before," Chocho saved, as she quickly grabbed the faux mission file (that Mitsuki forged like three seconds before they approached the two) and handed it over.

Shikadai faked a frustrated sigh -which actually wasn't faked- as he snatched the file from Sarada.

"Hey!"

"Look, the sooner we leave, the sooner we get back and I can sleep."

"Let me see a picture of that creature," Boruto put his hand out expectantly.

"Go find a mirror," Inojin laughed. But he stopped immediately to run off from the fury of the Boruto clones.

Chocho looked on unimpressed while Shikadai showed Boruto and Sarada the photo of the 'blabberblart'.

"Seems easy enough to catch judging from the notes about it, why would they need four of us to go get it? One competent ninja should be able to do this mission just fine," Sarada commented, a hand at her chin.

The Nara boy could feel the steam coming from his nose as his eye twitched. "Who cares how many people are needed, they have us assigned."

Sarada shrugged in response since it was merely an observation.

"Off we go!" Chocho sang, already marching ahead of the others.

"But it's midnight" Boruto whined, "can't we go get the thing in the morning?"

"No!" Shikadai screamed, frightening everyone in the immediate area.

"Woah, calm down man," Boruto patted his shoulder awkwardly, not really sure what the hell was his problem.

"Shouldn't we be going to the Hokage's office to announce our departure?" Sarada questioned them, finding it very strange that they were literally skipping protocol.

"He's not there right now, my dad sent me off with this file," Shikadai growled at the Uchiha girl, genuinely annoyed that she was so damn observant, "so they know we'll be gone."

'_If she keeps this up, I _will _tape her Goddamn mouth shut.'_

Boruto grabbed the file from his friend and proceeded to lead the way out the village, grumbling in the process. At this point Inojin had managed to get rid of the clones, so he stood next to Mitsuki as they waved their friends off.

Once the four were out of ear-shot, the snake like boy turns to the pale blond.

"Do you think this plan will work?"

"Shikadai was the one who planned it," he smiled confidently, but then frowned. "Just in case however, we should see to it that we have a backup plan."

"I agree," Mitsuki nodded, "because I have an odd feeling that those two are far more stubborn than even we know."

Inojin nodded in agreement, rolling his eyes as he did.

**XxX**

Shikadai, Chocho, Sarada and Boruto trudged through the damp forest in search of the blabberblart. It had been about forty minutes or so since they left the village, and they weren't going to tire anytime soon. The only problem they faced was that they had been woken up in the middle of their sleep, so they barely had any time to gather their mental bearings before heading out. Being the professional ninja that they were though, no one complained, until...they did.

"I'm hungry," Chocho whined, pouted and waited for a reaction.

Had this not been apart of the plan, Shikadai would have been very annoyed.

"I have a few snacks in my bag," Sarada offered, having expected her friend to need something sometime along the way.

"No, I want some berries," she swatted her off, "I hear that there are some really nice ones around here."

"Oh, okay..?"

"Do you want us to stop here for now so you can get some?" the Nara boy offered.

"Yes please!" Boruto dropped his backpack on the floor, following it soon after, letting out a loud groan and spewing some nonsense about 'ridiculous missions' and 'shitty hours'.

"Alright, we can wait for a few minutes," Sarada shrugged, resting her bag near Boruto and then sitting on it.

"Let's go Shikadai," Chocho grabbed him by the collar, dragging him far off into the thick forest.

"Okay," he started, looking around the ground with an observant eye, "the pit is over this way. All we have to do is put a little seal on it to prevent them from being able to use any jutsus to get out."

"Do you know how to do that? Block chakra I mean," the chubby girl raised her eyebrow, as she picked from the nearby bushes.

"I had Mitsuki dig through a couple scrolls and find it for me. If I didn't know how to do it before, I'll learn it now," he huffed, pulled out his flashlight,and was careful not to shine it recklessly in any direction.

"Alright," her response was muffled by the fruit piled in her mouth, but Shikadai opted to ignore it.

The light travelled across the floor almost erratically before reaching a small area haphazardly covered with aging twigs and leaves.

"Over there!" he whisper-yelled while making his way over.

Chocho followed him closely behind, peeked over his shoulder and nodded in satisfaction at the hole in the floor.

"It's at least twenty or twenty-five feet down. It's pretty wide and the walls consist of disconnected dust and dirt. They won't be able to climb out with nothing to grip," he smirked.

"Oh! And you and I can use transformation jutsu to pretend to be other people-"

"And bury them alive!"

"Woah calm down," Chocho back tracked, almost horrified at his suggestion.

He rolled his eyes, "we're not _really _going to bury them alive, but we can throw some of this loose dirt in to make them _think _that's what the bad guys are trying to do. In a life and death situation they're sure to confess to one another."

"Ohh, I didn't realize that's what the plan was."

"Then what _did _you think it was?" Shikadai watched her unamused.

"That the close contact would force them to connect emotionally," she giggled sheepishly.

He rolled his eyes again and shook his head, he then proceeded to grab the surrounding bush and cover up the hole even more. Chocho eventually overcame her embarrassment and helped him in his efforts.

"Right, now go hide over there, and take this end of the rope with you," he directed her to the other side of the hole. The intent was to trip Boruto and Sarada as they would come running in this direction. If things went as planned, the duo would fall into the pit -unfortunately suffer an injury...or two, then Shikadai and Chocho would go on to throw dirt into the hole. Thinking they're going to die, the two would confess and the plan would be a success.

"On my mark, yell as loud as you can," Shikadai whispered over to Chocho, securing the rope in his hand as she nodded. "And make it dramatic."

She seemed to brighten up like a star.

**OoO**

"I swear, the next time Dad sends us out on some stupid mission, like this one, I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind!" Boruto huffed indignantly, not really caring about how long his two friends were taking to find some berries as it allowed him a chance to rest.

"We've spoken about this before," Sarada sighed tiredly, "you need to give your Father some more credit...and respect."

"Credit for what? Writing his signature on every little paper that comes his way? Sounds like real hard work, I bet Himawari has a harder time choosing between color pencils than he has in his whole career, ya' know."

The Uchiha girl chose to ignore him in favor of silence.

Having sensed her disapproval of him, it was Boruto's turn to sigh.

"Look, I'm sorry. I'm just exhausted."

"Me too," her head bobbed slightly as her eyes were shutting on themselves.

The blond couldn't keep the small smile that formed on his face hidden as he watched her fall asleep. He picked himself up momentarily only to plop himself back down on his bag so that he was better leveled with her, he then guided her head to his shoulder.

"Thank you," she whispered, feeling her heart rate slow down in her calm as she let her guard down. Somehow, it was okay to do that when Boruto was around; she felt safe with him.

Boruto rested his head on top of hers, as he kept watch of their surroundings in case of an ambush...or if the stupid blabberblart thing happened to pass by.

Sarada knew that the warm, content feeling that was spreading like butter inside her was the perfect indication. It was time to tell him. No more stalling.

"Boruto I-"

"_AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_

Suddenly a loud scream echoed through the forest. It came from the direction their friends had wandered off to and sounded eerily like Chocho. Sarada was so startled that she jumped nearly two feet away from her place perched on her bag. Boruto's eyes widened in alarm as they shouted in sync.

"Chocho!"

They took off running immediately, forgetting their travel packs and making haste.

"Oh God no! No! No! Nooooooooooo!" the brown skin girl dramatized as she threw her hand to her forehead and feigned a faint...despite the fact that Boruto and Sarada were incapable of seeing her at that point in time**.**

"Over this way!" The blond jumped to the right, the brunette followed close behind.

"Leave my friend alone you cruel unattractive brute!"

"That's Chocho alright," Sarada commented offhandedly, completely unimpressed with her friend's own commentary in such a dire time.

"Hang on guys!" Boruto led the way on foot, he sped through the bush and hanging branches with only the sounds to guide him in the dark.

"What has the world come to? WHAT HAS IT COME TO?!"

Shikadai was tempted to slap Chocho for overdoing it, but he couldn't afford to move from his position, so he settled for pelting her with a small rock.

"Ow!" She whisper-yelled, but before he could respond, Boruto's and Sarada's figures came into view, lessening the distance in seconds.

"Ready?"

Not wanting to give them away, she quickly nodded, but barely got to finish the action before Shikadai signalled her to pull on the rope.

Sarada sensed sudden movements rather than actually seeing it, and it was her infamous 'Uchiha sense' that caused her to make a mighty leap over Boruto. The blond only had a second to process what she was doing before he felt his foot hook on something. He tripped and was sent flying directly above the ground for no more than a blink of the eye and then falling down a hole. He tried to grab onto anything within reach but only succeeded in getting a handful of dirt as he plummeted.

Sarada spared no time in pulling out two kunai as she landed (conveniently) at the edge of the hole, only actually spotting it once Boruto fell in. She knew he would likely form multiple shadow clones and get himself out, so she didn't bother herself too much with him. Right now she had to deal with these ambushers.

Shikadai had anticipated that Sarada would have been harder to get into the hole. Nevertheless, he groaned in frustration at the realization that he was right. He narrowly dodged the kunai thrown at him, that it just missed his neck by one centimeter. The rope slipped from his grasp and he scrambled to all fours and jumped, like one of the deer in his family's forest, into a nearby bush.

Chocho dodged the kunai, and pulled the rope towards her as she did so. Not wasting time, she used her newfound weapon to her advantage and swiped it toward her friend. The transformation jutsu would work until Sarada activated her dojutsu, which Chocho and Shikadai couldn't afford to have happen if they hoped for this plan to succeed.

Sarada sidestepped the surrogate whip, getting ready to turn on her Sharingan, but her opponent was relentless with the stupid rope, so she had to stay on her toes as they swiped at her face. Another swish of the rope and it wrapped around her wrist when she raised her hands to block. The criminal pulled not a second later, causing Sarada to go stumbling in their direction. Before she could find her footing, the other criminal came up behind her and kicked at her back, sending her flying directly into the hole.

Sarada let out a surprised scream as she fell.

Chocho, still under transformation jutsu, was just about to cheer at their success, but she forgot that she had been holding the rope with an iron grip, and as Sarada fell the rope quickly reached its limit end, causing Chocho to be dragged along with her.

Shikadai had to react fast. In the dark his shadow possession jutsu was next to impossible to control properly. Mitsuki would have been ideal in this moment with his stretching, but that was hardly the point. He literally raced around the hole, careful not to slip in, to Chocho's side, grabbed her leg in one hand and a tree root in the other.

"Dammit Cho-," he cut himself off mid sentence for fear of giving away who they truly were, struggling to hold onto the girl.

Chocho was halfway into the hole head first, her eyes bulged out of their sockets.

Sarada realized her opportunity and immediately grabbed onto the rope with her other hand. She tried to create a shadow clone, but for some reason her chakra felt blocked. She let out a battle growl (a habit formed by Boruto constantly doing it).

Chocho screamed as Sarada growled, the sudden fright caused her to drop the rope. The look of surprise that formed on the Uchiha girl's face just before she fell into darkness would have been amusing any other day, but right then it was just terrifying.

After getting over the initial shock of what had just happened, Chocho couldn't help but realize that she was still midway into the hole.

"Pull me up! Pull me up!"

Shikadai struggled for a moment, the angle of laying on the floor made it slightly more difficult to use his strength. He actually thanked his mother for having forced him to do all those exercises that had now become a habit for him. He gave one more mighty pull and Chocho was up, laying next to him safe from the hole.

"Thanks man," she sighed, completely and utterly breathless at this point.

"Sure thing," he responded just as breathless.

It took the two a few minutes to catch themselves, and it took only a couple seconds after for them to realize how silent it was in the hole. Despite the depth preventing them from seeing anything below, they would still have been capable of hearing anything said within.

Shikadai sweatdropped at the prospect of the duo being unconscious.

"Did we kill them?!"

**OoO**

The near pitch darkness was both annoying and confusing. Boruto couldn't remember where he was, far less _why _he was...if that made any sense. It took some time before his eyes adjusted to the light, or lack thereof, and he could barely make out the familiar figure laying a few inches off from him. His body ached slightly, but he would live through it.

"Bo...ruto..?"

His name being mumbled caught his attention. Looking to the figure, he had already known who it was by her voice.

"Sarada," he crawled over to her as fast as he could. Considering the pain, he moved ten times slower than normal. The moon only provided minimal light, but it was enough for him to see her face now that his eyes adjusted.

"You look terrible," he joked, but she didn't respond in like manner, choosing instead to force herself up, despite the pain.

"Where are we?"

"A hole."

"What?"

"A hole."

"I heard you the first time," she groaned.

"Did you though?"

"Can you please be serious!"

He sighed at her small outburst. He knew she must be slightly frustrated. After all, they were technically trapped until they could restore enough energy to jump the hell out of there. And she probably hit her head. Hard.

"How do we get out?" her glasses were dirty and the dark made her practically blind, so she was relying on Boruto now more than ever, worse even that she couldn't seem to use her chakra at all.

The blond boy took to feeling about the walls of the hole in hopes of finding a solid area for him to grip. But even the slightest touch caused pieces of dirt and rock to fall, so he ceased in his action for fear of causing the walls the crumble in on them.

"I don't know."

"Can you use or feel your chakra at all?"

He tried it, but nothing.

"No."

"Dammit...how did they do that?" She racked her brain for any ideas or concepts. Mitsuki would have been able to figure this out, maybe even Shikadai. It was a known fact that the snake-like boy poured over scrolls and scripts more than anyone else of their generation. Added with his natural skill, he would have been able to get them out.

Boruto was stumped for ideas too, but that was more than expected.

"I hope Chocho and Shikadai are alright."

**OoO**

"They're dead aren't they?" Chocho panicked, she had thought that Boruto would be yelling at the top of his lungs at this point, but he wasn't and that worried her.

"If they're lucky they may just be unconscious."

"You mean if '_we're'_ lucky."

"Yeah, that's what I said."

"No it wasn't."

"Yes."

"Where is that rock from before?"

"Why?"

"So I can pelt you with it!"

"Relax yourself and go find your flashlight, we'll shine it in there. It's powerful enough that we should be able to see the bottom," he rolled his eyes.

"Why are you not worried?"

"I am, I'm just chill about it."

**OoO**

Sarada laid back against the wall, eyes closed and mind open.

"Maybe if we shout for them?" Boruto suggested. He had been spitting any and every idea that came to mind the minute they appeared.

"We need to keep quiet, our attackers may think we're dead. And if not, they will most likely come back to kill us."

"And what if they don't want us dead? Don't you think they would have ensured our death if that was the case? Like, I don't know...throw down a big ass rock or something to kill us."

"They may not be very bright," she sighed, still feeling exhausted.

"I don't care if they-"

He was cut off by a light that shone down in the hole, which caused him to block his eyes from the sudden change in lighting.

"What the fuck?!" His little outburst caused Sarada to open her eyes and she tried looking upward, but the bright light prevented her from seeing anything.

"Hey!" the Uchiha girl shouted as she moved to stand up, "Chocho?" she was really hoping it was their friends. The erratic movements of the light was both confusing and annoying, almost as if the person holding it didn't know which hand to hold it in!

Above the hole, Shikadai and Chocho were struggling silently between who should hold the light and talk. Eventually, Shikadai got stuck with the task.

"Uhh...uh, YOU...people..?"

Chocho facepalmed.

Boruto and Sarada were very confused at that point, they couldn't make out the voice that was talking to (at?) them. So very slowly, Boruto responded.

"What?"

"SILENCE!"

The two jumped back in surprise at the outburst, but then the Uchiha girl retorted.

"What do you want with us?!"

"For you to rot in this hell hole you've put yourselves in."

"Who the fuck are you?! Come down here and fight me!" the blond boy screamed, which caused Sarada to block her ears and glare.

"No thanks," Chocho -voice in disguise- deadpanned.

"Yes!"

"No."

"YES!"

"Nope."

"YE-"

"N-"

It was at that point that Shikadai and Sarada simultaneously slapped their respective partners in irritation. The silence that ensued was...awkward.

"You're never getting out of there," the Nara hissed, opting to neglect mentioning Chocho's and his (as themselves) current status as a means of worrying the two.

"Mark my words, on my family's grave, I _will_ get out of here!" Sarada growled as she stared directly into the light, not showing any weakness by flinching. (Of course she knew she was going to regret doing that later since her eyes were _already _sensitive without bright things shone into it)

"And I swear on my father's grave!" Boruto added.

"Your father is not dead Boruto," Sarada sweat dropped, a little annoyed at his unnecessary addition.

"He is to me...sometimes!"

Chocho was tempted to throw some rocks down there to knock at least a _little _sense into that darn boy's head. If Inojin were there he would have made some ridiculous comment about how all hope for Boruto was lost and that it was pointless even to try. She would have to agree.

The two disguised young adult ninja choose this moment to 'ninja vanish' into a puff of smoke, leaving their friends trapped in the hole.

"Great," Sarada huffed, wiping some sweat that had accumulated over the little...whatever that just was with their assailants.

"Well, we're going to be here a while, might as well get comfortable until we can build up enough chakra to super jump out of here," Boruto sat down with a sigh.

"That's not how this works, whatever jutsu this hole has on it isn't simply repressing our chakra, it's quite literally _blocking _it, so it's not a matter of waiting until enough chakra cumulates to burst a little dam."

"Oh right, my bad, I forgot that you're spiritually entwined with your chakra," he rolled his eyes as he shook his head. He really felt both annoyed and degraded that she would put off almost any and every idea he had. Sometimes it felt like she didn't even consider his plan and automatically assumed it would fail.

Sarada wasn't in the mood for his sass, but she was starting to get claustrophobic and agitated. Though she liked to be well rounded in terms of skills, and she made it a personal goal to not become too reliant on one particular skill set or ability, ever since she had become stronger with her sharingan, and over time got to grasp and almost spiritually feel the connection it gave her with her entire family, she felt naked without it. It is a vital part of who she is...but now...she lost it..for now anyway.

"Maybe if you spent more time on simply trying to better yourself rather than best your dad, you would be able to assess the situation as easily as I did," she waved him off.

"Well maybe if _you _didn't have a stick up your ass you could relax a bit," he dismissed her.

"You're impossible."

"Correction: I've _done _the impossible, and that's put up with you for so long."

What he said had hurt much more than she thought it should. She knew she liked him, but she thought that she would have gotten accustomed to his harsh words by now. As they had grown older, their little friendship circle hadn't changed much in structure. It only got more intense. Inojin had developed the sass of one thousand men; Shikadai had gotten more sarcastic; Mitsuki increased his 'mother-hen' role; Chocho more confident; and Boruto more...lost...confused. He didn't know what he wanted in life and it frustrated him. She knew that much. But somehow that wasn't enough to justify his crappy attitude. Even the fact that they were stuck in some God forsaken hole with no foreseeable way out wasn't enough to justify it.

"I'm sorry, I forgot that being logical was a sin. Oh god, can you ever forgive me?" for her turn in sass, she was quite pleased with her response.

Boruto raised his eyebrow, "that's the best you've got?"

Her patience for him was starting to run low, she could feel how her anger built up. Quickly.

"What exactly is your problem?" she couldn't understand.

"I'm not the one trying to start a fight!" he shot up, got in her face and invaded her personal space.

They were so close. All the space they had in this hole, and yet here they were, inches away from each other. She could feel his breath and he could see the smoothness of her face. It was like the animosity that had been forming just swept itself away. Uninvited as it was, and the intensity of their stare that went on for what felt like forever replaced it.

Boruto wasn't angry anymore, just saddened, "you're supposed to always have my back," he whispered, "but sometimes it feels like you don't _want _to have it."

Sarada looked down. They knew that the words they exchanged between each other seconds ago meant nothing. They were frustrated by the situation. They were worried about their friends. Heck, even the fact that they weren't going to find the blabberblart had irritated them. Right now, it seemed like the world was against them.

"Wait," Sarada suddenly spoke, "say that again."

"What?"

"What you just said!" her eyes widened.

"'But sometimes it seems lik-"

"No! Not that! Before that!"

She was acting really crazy, but Boruto knew better than to question it.

"'You're supposed to have my back'?"

"Yes! Backs!" she spun around, which caused Boruto to whimper slightly at the lost at proximity.

"What is wrong with our backs?" he asked, at a complete lost.

"Nothing.."

"Then what is it?" he was impatient, a fact that everyone accepted at this point.

"I just have an idea," she smirked, mirroring her father in that instant.

Boruto took a second to examine their surroundings. It was only wall really. Then he seemed to get it. Great minds think alike after all.

"You do realize that our legs aren't ten feet each right?" he deadpanned, "going back to back isn't an option."

"That's not the plan," she watched him unamused, "we can try wall jumping."

Looks like her plan was different.

"Without our chakra we would never be able to cover the width, not to mention that the dirt these walls are made of are too loose, it would crumble on us before we get three feet up."

"Not by ourselves, no, but what if we tried doing it off one another?" her idea was insane, but it was largely sparked by something Boruto said in a conversation that they had before. He had been spitballing at the time, but he said that it might be possible for two ninja who were perfectly in sync to wall jump off of each other and the wall to cover the distance. Even Shikadai and Mitsuki had agreed that it was hypothetically possible under the right circumstances and including the proper ninja.

Boruto stared at her for a long while. She was sounding like him suggesting that.

"Are you mad?" he didn't like having to be the logical one, it was always hard work.

"Come on Boruto, it seems impossible, but I'm sure if no one else could do it, we can," she pleaded without actually pleading..something she developed from _both _of her parents.

"I don't know Sarada…"

"_You _were the one who said this could work," she moved back in front of him, trying to convince him with just a look.

"I was drunk when I said that and I got inspired by a crappy game!" reasoning was hard work also.

Before Sarada could say anything, a massive heap of dirt came crashing down on them. This dirt was heavier than what made up the bits of wall and it trapped the two of them in their spots instantly.

"What the heck?!"

"Goddammit!"

They screamed simultaneously, trying, but failing, to pull themselves out. The dirt -and possibly mud- made its way up to their mid torso. One of Sarada's hands was trapped in the muck and half of Boruto's face was indistinguishable due to marks. Carefully, they looked up.

"You're going to die!" one of the assailants shouted down at them, a shovel held in their hand.

"I hope that you wrote your will before you left!" the other.

"Why are you doing this?!" Sarada asked them again, not satisfied with their last answer.

The two above seem to lean down while one spoke, "you know why. Goodbye."

With that, more dirt started getting thrown down the hole, painstakingly slow as the shovel could only hold so much. The trapped ninja struggled against the build up, but it was all in vain. They were stuck with no way out.

**OoO**

"Do you think they will talk now?" Chocho whispered to Shikadai. It had been almost six minutes -though it felt longer- already and nothing. They were only filling their shovels half way to make the process longer, but they were getting nowhere with these two!

"I have no idea," the Nara boy growled, practically losing his mind as they waited.

"Then what else should we do?"

"Just keep digging, they _have _to give in sometime."

.

.

.

"Just keep digging...just keep digging...just keep-"

"What are you doing?!" Shikadai whisper-yelled.

"Trying to prevent myself from dying of boredom!"

**OoO**

"Why is this so hard to get out of?" Boruto growled, as he internally panicked. Mitsuki was almost always the emotionally compacted one in these kinds of situations, so he could rely on him. But somehow it felt wrong to rely on Sarada to keep it together. Boruto could just see the terror in her eyes as her movements slowly got restricted.

They tried to dig their way out, but it was like the muck they were stuck in had cement powder somewhere in the mix. It kept piling on until they were covered just below their shoulders, arms in the air to prevent them from sticking, for them to admit defeat -almost. They resorted to screaming for their teammates, their final option. What else could they do?

"They're not going to come for you! No one can hear you out here," Shikadai yelled at them, reaching his boiling point. How could they not think to start confessing?! His math was perfect. Usually he wasn't this impatient or snappy, but the build up of frustration from having watched his two friends deny each other for God knows how long was taking its toll. Any longer and he'll _really _bury them.

Chocho seemed to sense this as she nudged him and mouthed 'just a little longer.' He didn't know how much longer he could hold out, but he had to try.

Boruto and Sarada ignored their assailant and continued screaming. The repercussions of doing so came only two minutes later. Their vocal cords were sore and burning while the muck remained mostly where it had been. They turned to face one another, their faces red and pink from their blood rushing. They couldn't fathom any other options, and above the hole the assailants taunted them.

"I don't know if we're going to make it," Sarada rasped, the weight of their situation pulling her face down along with her hopes.

"No!" Boruto was too stubborn, and he had a habit of giving hope, no matter how unfeasible.

"We just need to keep struggling! Maybe this whatever will give way, or those guys up there would get annoyed, or-"

"No, Boruto," she whispered, looking away from him.

He was confused. It wasn't like Sarada to give up, especially not so easily. She seemed to have come up with some other conclusion to their situation.

"I am not giving up," he growled, "even if you are!"

"There's no point! We're stuck and we're going to _die!_"

"What's wrong with you?! We're Boruto and Sarada, we can do anything!"

"We're not gods! You can't seriously think that we're getting out of this one!" she screeched, her throat was burning and her eyes were watering. The dirt taste in her mouth was hardly a concern at this point. She was powerless to something as simple as a _mud _compost. It hurt her pride. Badly.

"This is nothing. We've dealt with worse!" somehow Boruto managed to shout back, clearly unbothered by his throat pain.

"The circumstances are different now!"

They were too busy arguing that they didn't even notice that the muck was no longer falling down on them.

Above the hole, Shikadai and Chocho facepalmed.

"They cannot _seriously _be having an argument right now," the Nara boy grumbled through his fingers, finally hitting his peak.

Chocho rolled her eyes and hung her head. No one could fathom just how annoyed they were at this point.

"That's it!" Shikadai threw his shovel down the hole, certain that one of the duo would be struck with it. He stormed off to whatever direction and disappeared into the bushes.

The dark skinned girl sighed as she stuck her shovel into the ground, dropping herself down next to it while she tried to tune out Boruto and Sarada's voices as they argued.

Almost three minutes passed like this, until Shikadai came back, something in his hand.

"What's that?" Chocho piped up, not sure what to do next. If she wasn't careful she was sure he would kill them. The thing looked like a paperbomb, so she was especially scared to think what he was doing.

"It'll shut them up," he hissed as he tossed it down quickly.

"NO!" she tried to grab it, but it was useless as she just fell unto her side as it cascaded.

"What?"

"We can't kill them!" she grabbed him by the ankle, a bewildered look on her face.

"That's a sleep bomb," he defended.

They only faintly heard Boruto curse before the bomb exploded. It took a few seconds for the gas to dissipate, but when it did they found their friends successfully knocked out. They sighed simultaneously, looking down at the duo.

Shikadai took off the chakra blocking seal, he removed the scroll from under a rock where it hid, and threw it aggressively to the side.

"So…" Chocho started, "do we consider this plan a fail?"

Shikadai simply watched her, completely unamused.

**XxX**

The next day, Mitsuki, Inojin, Shikadai and Chocho sat in the girl's bedroom, heads hung low and silence in the air.

The snake like boy and the Yamanaka sat on one side of the room while the other two sat opposite to them.

"We failed," the Akimichi girl repeated for the nth time that morning. They had been sitting in that position for nearly an hour since they came back around three.

"I give up, for real this time," Shikadai sighed, "those two will be the death of me."

Mitsuki and Inojin shared a look before the latter spoke up.

"Not to say we didn't believe in you, I guess you can say we just learned from the last time, but we have a back up plan," he smiled.

"Please share, anything is better than mopping around right now," Chocho said.

"Huddle," Mitsuki motioned to them, and awkwardly but quickly they moved in.

"Now this may seem like an idea concocted by a simpleton, but we figured that it works in the movies so why not real life?"

"Uh, because movies are scripted?" Shikadai shrugged.

"Rhetorical," Inojin deadpanned.

"Um, not where I was leading, but, no," Mitsuki continued, "we're sure that this is highly possible."

"What is it? You're beating around the bush and I think that's enough forest abuse," the shadow nin blurted out in a moment of frustration.

"If Boruto and Sarada are forced to, let's say, _kiss _in front of not only us, but an entire crowd of people, they would not be able to fight against the rumors that are sure to spread and they will finally have to give in."

"But there's no way we can make them do that, especially not in front of anyone, far less us," Chocho pouted. She wasn't liking this idea. Maybe if she was six and still into those cheesy rom coms she would have been bursting at the sems to get the ball rolling on their idea. But she was more mature now, and even though she still appreciated a little cheese on her romance, she was smart enough to know that in no fantasy world would they be able to force Boruto and Sarada to kiss. The duo just didn't succumb to that kind of pressure.

"Yeah, you two could have just admitted that you spent all that time watching stupid early 2000s romance movies instead of 'learning from the last time' and _actually _plotting."

"Hey, the early 2000s were the golden age of romance, especially for theatre," Mitsuki defended.

"Sure, if you say so," the Nara looked away and pulled back.

Inojin smirked, "don't worry, everything will run smoothly if you do as we say," he quoted him.

And to that, Shikadai and Chocho were profoundly scared. Because Lord knows that they would have come up with some ludacris plan even _without _the influence of movies.

**XxX**

Mitsuki and Inojin waited a couple of hours before putting their plan into action. After all, it was initially four in the morning when they finally admitted to having a plan in the first place, and that hour wasn't appropriate for anything to work out.

It was now nearing six in the evening when 'the modern' team 7 (as they liked to call themselves) were taking their biweekly walk through the park. At that time of day, as the Sun went down and the streetlights came on, the sights were even more beautiful and breathtaking. It made the walk all the more enjoyable.

"I still can't believe we didn't get that stupid blabberblart," Boruto complained. They were relaying the events of their mission to Mitsuki who merely nodded and acted as if he knew nothing.

"Did you file the mission report?"

"Shikadai did," Sarada answered, and quickly ended the whole discussion with her tone of voice.

Mitsuki could tell that they were both irritated and tense with how things had turned out, and even though it played right into the plan, he genuinely offered to buy them both some ice cream to cheer them up.

"You don't have to pay for it, but I think getting some is a good idea," Sarada looked to Boruto, waiting to see what he had to say.

In a very moody and grumpy fashion he simply nodded and followed them towards the nearest ice cream stand.

The man at the stand kindly smiled as he recognized their faces. They weren't his most regular customers, but he would be damned if he didn't remember the Hokage's son...not to mention that they always had the most bizarre conversations whenever they were buying.

"What will it be tonight, my heroes?"

Sarada couldn't help the grin that formed at his words. This was why she liked coming by this ice cream man in particular. He always reminded her about the dream she accomplished, and _why _she even wanted to accomplish it in the first place. _Heroes. _

"I will be having peppermint," Mitsuki responded politely.

"Uh...I think I'll have vanilla today," the Uchiha girl nodded.

It took a few moments before Boruto finally mumbled out his order for chocolate, and Mitsuki and Sarada found themselves groaning at his moodiness.

"You're not seriously _still _upset about the blabberblart are you?"

The blond simply directed his glare to another direction.

"He's only upset because he hasn't licked his ice-cream yet," the snake-like boy smiled as he dug into his own treat.

"It was a dumb animal and we didn't even see it!"

The man at the stand chuckled a bit at the odd name, but otherwise remained mostly unseen by them.

"When I went to the office to ask about it the desk shinobi assured me that it wasn't a mission of great importance and that they'll send in more ninja to check it out later. He even seemed surprised that I was so concerned."

"Yeah but now we look bad because we couldn't catch one unintelligent species!" Boruto shot back.

"Nonsense! We caught you," Mitsuki smiled some more.

"I can see that you've really been buying your time with Inojin while we were away," he glowered, preparing his fist.

Sarada rolled her eyes as she paid the man and walked away, knowing full well that the boys would eventually catch up once they finished their lovers quarrel.

Just as she predicted, they came running up right behind her not two seconds later. Mitsuki had clearly folded and Boruto 'won'. They continued on their way in comfortable silence. It had been too long since they spent quality time together, so now they just took it in.

The whole village seemed to calm in their presence, and the trio smiled blissfully at the peace. This is what they fought for and what they risked their lives for. The children who ran about that knew no real danger; the elderly who rocked in their chairs reminiscing the past; and everyone in between.

"You know, I don't think I'll ever regret my choice," Boruto murmured absently out of the blue.

"What?" Mitsuki asked.

"To become a ninja, y'know!"

Sarada smiled. She was about to take another lick of her cone when two kids rushed past her, roughly shoving her aside. She dropped her ice-cream with a quick noise of disapproval, but the kids paid her no mind as they were wrapped up in their own little game of what seemed like pretending to be ninja. She decided to forgo chasing after them to lecture them, since she was _trying _to enjoy her night.

Boruto, however, was ready to chase after them and sock them right in the head.

"No, please, it's okay," she sighed.

"But your ice-cream," he practically pouted.

"Is just that, ice-cream."

"I'll go get you some more!" Mitsuki offered, knowing she would refuse him.

'_All part of the plan,'_ he thought.

"No Mitsuki, it's alright," she reacted as he expected.

"I insist, after all, I didn't get to pay for the first one," he smiled.

"Come on, let him go get you more," Boruto butted in this time, and he gave her his version of 'the look', which was about as effective as Chocho dieting.

Before she could even give in Mitsuki was already making his way back to the stand, which she didn't realize they had gone so far away from.

"When he gets back we'll toast," Boruto thrust his ice-cream into the air, but pulled it back almost as quickly to lick the dripping sides.

"That's if you have any left," Sarada giggled. She would never have felt, so free without Boruto. He just had that way of making people forget their troubles and enjoy the moment. She liked that.

It wasn't much longer before their third member rejoined them, sporting a frown.

"Looks like the man closed up shop early tonight," he lied, feigning disappointment, but they obviously didn't know that, "There goes the perfect night."

'_Come on Boruto, take the bait.'_

"Oh well, no bigg-" she got cut off.

"No! Here, have some of mine," the Uzumaki boy offered, putting his cone to her face.

'_Bingo!'_

"Boruto that isn't necessary," her whole face went redder than a tomato as she tried refusing. But he wasn't having any of it.

"We said we would toast, and we are doing that, tonight."

"Yeah but I don't need a-"

"Come on Sarada," Mitsuki interrupted her off now, "just one lick for our successes."

With the looks both boys gave her, Sarada found her resolve lessening by the second. Within a matter of blinks she gave a defeated sigh.

"Alright," Boruto started, raising his cone to the air as Mitsuki followed, "this one is for us, and all our hard work."

"To us," Sarada and Mitsuki repeated. They would never admit how silly they felt raising their fists in the air while standing in a _slightly _more secluded area of the central park as quite a few passerbys paid them no mind.

Boruto and Mitsuki brought their cones back to their faces, and Boruto gave Sarada a look so expectant that she immediately felt herself moving closer to his lip- CONE! HIS ICE-CREAM CONE! NOTHING ELSE!

It seemed to them that the rest of the world didn't matter. Boruto could feel his heart going a mile a minute at the sight of his long time friend. The light of the moon did wonders for her already perfect features. For a second he forgot the ice-cream in his hand as she moved slowly toward him. It was exciting and he felt himself moving toward her as well.

Mitsuki couldn't stop the big smile that formed on his face as he watched them. But he wasn't stupid. He learned a long time ago that they couldn't rely on the duo to make a move, so it was left up to them. Which was why he gave the signal. He threw his cone up into the night sky -which Boruto and Sarada didn't notice because they were too busy staring into each other's eyes- and in the distance Shikadai nodded as he placed his binoculars aside.

Using his shadow jutsu combined with Inojin's family mind jutsu, they brought to life a being almost separate to themselves. The Ino-Shika-Cho formation. They used this shadow being to lift Chocho from her position in front of them, and with swift movements propelled her forward unto their unsuspecting victi….unknowing clients. Yeah. Clients.

Chocho cut through the wind at a speed great enough to be missed, and she aimed herself mid air directly at Boruto's back.

Mitsuki took a smart step back. And then everything just happened in an instant.

The cone that Mitsuki had thrown came crashing back down on his head in a sticky mess. Chocho, a little too aggressively, slammed into Boruto's back. And instead of a hard hitting kiss between the Uzumaki and the Uchiha -as had been the plan, the ice-cream that had been in his hand smooshed into Sarada's face as Boruto was thrown face first into the floor, a _second _time for that day.

Shikadai and Inojin, even from the distance, could see that the plan had already failed. That pretty much took the record for fastest failure. Inojin face-palmed and Shikadai tried to retrain the smug facial expression that was dying to come forth.

(Mitsuki, however, didn't seem to give up so easily.)

"Oh my goodness! Boruto and Sarada did you two just kiss?!" he exaggerated.

From the ground Boruto glared. Behind the ice-cream that covered her face Sarada glared. A little further up where she landed Chocho glared. Some random old man glared, but probably for a very different reason.

'_Disruptive youngsters.'_

Oddly enough, Boruto and Sarada didn't notice Chocho, and slowly she made her escape into the shadows while they were temporarily distracted by Mitsuki, who simply had an innocent-but-guilty-of-false-accusations smile.

'_That...didn't go as planned,' _he flinched.

It wasn't much longer before Boruto and Sarada called it a night, not even bothering to ask Mitsuki, because quite frankly they were just too tired for anything else to happen.

**XxX**

Chocho was crying. She was legitimately crying. They had tried so many scenarios. It had been quite literally two weeks since their little group, to get Boruto and Sarada together, formed. And they had failed epically. Every. Single. Time.

Chocho's first brilliant plan. Failed.

Shikadai's well thought out but otherwise no good plan. Failed.

Mitsuki and Inojin's crazy plan. Failed.

And the six others that followed. Fucking. Failed.

Mitsuki was patting her back as he handed her his handkerchief, truly feeling the pain that she was.

"I give up!" she wailed, "for real this time!"

"You sound like Shikadai after just about every plan," Mitsuki deadpanned. At this point he felt that they had been in the same shit pool together long enough for him to get irritated with them.

Shikadai acknowledged this statement by raising his hand from where he lay on Chocho's bed. Somehow he felt like a piece of him died every time they were unsuccessful, leaving him a more lethargic corpse than he had been before. Metaphorically of course.

"We should have never started on this hopeless quest," Inojin practically whimpered. God damn Boruto and Sarada for their stubbornness. They were the epitome of the word.

"Those two are the most _dense_, keen eyed blind people in the world!" Chocho cried.

For the most part Inojin simply made a face. He spared her a comment.

The only thing making the situation worse was the fact that 'Happy Together' by Turtles was playing on the radio. In a mostly passive aggressive move, Shikadai chucked the radio out the window, and ignored the noise it made as it smashed to pieces.

"I prefer Chelsea Collins' version," he commented sourly.

It was still early in the morning, but from there they spent the rest of the day sulking. They literally didn't move from their spots. Shikadai on the bed. Inojin at the edge of the bed. Chocho and Mitsuki near the door to her bathroom just sitting on the floor.

They gave a collective sigh.

Then a knock sounded on Chocho's door.

"Leave! We're trying to die!" Inojin rasped melodramatically. The others gave him a surprised look. Even Shikadai wouldn't go that far.

Nevertheless the person on the other side opened the door. It revealed to be Choji. He looked only mildly disappointed at their state of being, but did not comment on that factor.

"Why are you guys couped up in here?" he raised his eyebrow.

"Because Sarada and Boruto are morons," Chocho huffed as she folded her arms indignantly.

"I hardly see how the idiocy of your friends would keep you in here," her father cocked his head to the side just before continuing, "unless it was contagious."

"We were trying to get them together. But I'm sure I have a greater chance of beating my dad at chess than they do of ever admitting their feelings. And it's so stupid! Why don't they just say what we _all _already know! They know it too dammit!" Shikadai seemed to go off despite not moving from his position, not even bothering to opening his eyes.

Choji was a bit taken aback by that, but when he caught himself he could only ask one question, "why are you guys letting this affect you?"

They couldn't answer. Mostly because they didn't want to look bad in his eyes by admitting that any reasons that they may have had were purely selfish. They had no genuinely good reason for trying as hard as they were. So they stayed silent.

"You know, back in my day when two people really loved each other-"

"Aw dad! No nostalgia talk," Chocho whined, which caused Choji to laugh at her, and everyone else's, expense as they all fake gagged -expect for Mitsuki.

"Look, all I was going to say was that they know deep down how they feel. It's not your jobs to force them to accept it," he placed his hands behind his back sheepishly, taking almost ten years off his appearance as he smiled, "and times are different now, so let them enjoy those butterflies that they feel; I remember when I first felt those, and I wish that innocence stayed forever."

Chocho smiled back as she imagined her parents together in their early stages. Even if she used to pretend she didn't enjoy these stories, they always stayed with her.

"But," Inojin cut the peace, "what if those idiots never admit their feelings and die alone?"

To that Choji had no answer and simply closed the door quickly to avoid it. Shouting that dinner was almost ready as he ran down the stairs.

**XxX**

Shikadai, Inojin, Chocho and Mitsuki found themselves strolling through Konoha late in the evening the next day. In their ploy to get the ever infamous Uzumaki and Uchiha next gen together they had grown somewhat closer as friends. As a group even. They were all pondering on Choji's words.

Maybe they were being selfish? At this point it didn't matter.

Their disappointment must have been evident on their faces though, because suddenly they were approached by three figures.

"I hope you're happy with yourselves," Denki, surprisingly, was the one who spoke up. He didn't sound as offending as they're sure he wanted to, but his message was clear.

"What crawled up your butt and died?" Inojin muttered.

"Everything is really awkward between Sarada and I! We went on a mission together four days ago and we couldn't hold a conversation for longer than two minutes because she kept excusing herself," he sounded incredibly irritated.

Chocho and Inojin simply rolled their eyes.

"Ever consider that you're just that weird?" Shikadai drawled.

Iwabe took a threatening step forward in defense of his friend, but the shadow nin didn't so much as flinch.

Mitsuki was trying his hardest to remember when they had stumbled into this part of Konoha in the first place. They had all been so lost in thought that not a single one of them noticed -Shikadai might have but he surely didn't say anything. Ever since Chocho's failed first plan they had been avoiding the three boys. Namely Iwabe because he was more likely to attack, Denki and Metal were far more civilized. As shown.

"Just be gone with the lot of you," Inojin dismissed as he waved his hand flapantly in his frustration.

"And in response to your statement," Chocho turned to Denki as she slumped, "we're not. All our efforts were in vain."

Iwabe harrumphed, "good."

Metal seemed to forget that he was upset as he asked, "how come?"

"Because we failed. Boruto and Sarada are never going to admit their feelings," Mitsuki answered.

Metal and even Denki seemed just as disappointed as the group. They were willing to forgive the four because they knew that plan had been to help Boruto and Sarada. But now that they knew it was unsuccessful and clearly didn't even help at all, everything seemed to be a waste. Just the fact that the usually happy -or at least content- Mitsuki was affected by the events was enough to make any onlooker sad too.

Except for Iwabe. Apparently.

"That's because you morons have been trying _actual _plans as if this is some sort of high ranking mission."

Everyone turned to the tallest one among them.

"That's because this basically is...was," Shikadai responded this time, "anyway, we gave up."

Iwabe turned away from the group, and marched away with so much purpose in each step that he left everyone alarmed. So they followed him.

"Um...where are you going?" Metal question quickly. If he could figure out what was going on, then he could prevent any disasters. Lord alone knows what went on in that boy's head anyway.

"To do something that should have been done a long time ago," he growled as he took to the rooftops for faster travel. Everyone else immediately followed suit.

"Care to clarify?" Chocho piped up.

"No."

There was a collective sigh that followed.

**XxX**

It took until they saw Boruto and Sarada up ahead to really realize what Iwabe was up to.

"Don't do it!" the group warned in unison.

"Losers! Stand back and watch a professional get the job done," Iwabe boasted.

"He shall fail miserably," Inojin deadpanned.

Shikadai nodded. Chocho rolled her eyes. Mitsuki raised his eyebrow. Denki and Metal contemplated whether or not to run after him. But one thing they all had in common; to see how this played out.

Iwabe walked..no, stomped up to Boruto and Sarada. In their surprise to see him, they spun around at almost break neck speed. The Uzumaki raised his hand in greeting and was about to say something when Iwabe suddenly grabbed the back of his head, doing the same to Sarada, and shoved their foreheads into one another before yelling.

"LOVE EACH OTHER!"

Needless to say the people surrounding the area ran away in fear. Because _ew_ love.

Having this happen was embarrassing. The duo could feel their faces heat up...in rage. And the rest unfolded exactly as the group expected. Boruto was the first to land a hit, a punch straight to the face. Sarada reacted immediately after, using Iwabe's temporarily disoriented state as leverage as she landed a spin kick to the back of his knees, knocking him onto his back. He lay there for a peaceful second before Boruto bounded on him with multiple clones.

The group considered leaving him there, since he should have known better.

All it took was Shikadai walking away. Not even Metal and Denki bothered staying behind because they were tired of Iwabe getting himself into these situations and expecting them to help him. So instead they bid their farewells and parted from the rest as they made their way to the Hokage tower to prepare to defend him. Still, they were helping him.

After repeated bashings, Iwabe eventually was able to escape, battered and bruised, his inflated ego gone in an instant.

"That's it! Let them die alone!" Chocho shouted as they made their way back to her room to mope.

"I've never been more sad," Mitsuki hung his head.

"I'm boycotting their funeral," Shikadai sighed.

"Forget that, they might deny death himself," Inojin grumbled.

And to that the others had to agree.

**XxX**

Boruto and Sarada stood outside the Uzumaki household. She had a mission due in a couple of minutes, but she was waiting on Mitsuki, her partner this time around, to meet her here. They had agreed when they were younger that Boruto's house would be their hotspot, mostly because Hinata always had cookies and it always felt like a home. Mitsuki didn't have a 'house', and Sarada's was usually empty. Plus the cookies. So they settled for here.

Both Boruto and Sarada were snacking on one of the delicacies as they spoke. They had long since put the event with Iwabe that happened two days ago behind them. It was awkward at first, then they managed to laugh the whole ordeal off anyway. They were just comfortable enough with each other to do that. People perhaps believed that there are romantic feelings between them, but it was totally platonic. Totally. Without a doubt. True talk no lie. This was all fact.

Which was exactly why Sarada ignored that conversation she had with Chocho in which she admitted something that wasn't true because Chocho was just the kind of person to take things out of context. Totally.

It was also why Boruto decided to stop yelling every time a guy spoke to Sarada, or even remotely looked like he was hitting on her. Because he seriously just wanted his money that was owed that day at the cafe. Nothing else. Totally.

Absolutely platonic. Yeah.

"But seriously Sarada, I can't wait 'til you're Hokage, y'know, this village could use your brilliance," he took another bite from his cookie.

Sarada smiled as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "yeah well, there's no way I'm taking that position if you leave the village."

"I want to see the world I guess," he shrugged.

"You know I can't trust anyone else to protect me," she laughed.

"That's true," he stretched his arms before giving her a thumbs up, "so I guess I have no choice huh?"

"Not a chance."

"How about this," he stared at her seriously, trying to keep a straight face, "I propose we travel the world, then come back in time for you to own everyone's asses and become Hokage. You get your dream job, and I get my dream girl."

Silence followed.

"I'm just joking Sarada!" he tried to laugh it off, accidentally dropping what was left of his cookie as he threw his hands up in the air.

She also laughed awkwardly, "Heh, yeah I knew that," her voice trailed off as she blushed.

Sauntering over near the front door to pick up the stray cookie piece he threw, Boruto turned around only to find Sarada in right front of him.

"Are you, really?" she suddenly asked out of nowhere as she stood before him.

Boruto froze, heart beating fast at being in such close proximity to her. "Yeah, of course….I mean…" he floundered, mesmerized in the depths of her stare, "Uh…well you see…." He exhaled. "Not exactly," he the seconds ticked on, he could feel the heat between them. Butterflies fluttered in his stomach and he couldn't take his eyes off of her. She was so close…so beautiful… Unconsciously, his body began to work in its own accord, slowly inching forward to close the distance between them.

Her eyes closed and he suddenly debated. Could he? Should he?

They fell into an uncomfortable silence. Something about the moment wasn't as breezy as it had been before. It was almost as if Boruto..._admitted _something. But that couldn't be. It was totally platonic...right?

Just then, the front door to the house opened suddenly, accidentally knocking Boruto into Sarada and their lips touched for a second. In the doorway stood a wide eyed Himawari with a slightly confused facial expression.

"Big brother," she inclined her head towards Boruto, "what's going on?"

They could have died in that moment. Their faces turned beet red and their eyes nearly fell out of their sockets. Himawari just stood there though, seemingly unbothered by her words or the impact they had.

Just then, Mitsuki dropped down from whatever roof he had jumped from with what the duo would describe as God-given timing.

"Sorry I'm a little late," he watched with confused amusement, trying to understand what just transpired, "are you ready to g-"

"YES I AM!" Sarada shouted very uncharacteristically as she practically flew from the spot she was in, not even bothering to say goodbye.

"Places...I need to be places," Boruto blurted out, disappearing into the house as he gave Himawari the oh-you're-so-_dead_-when-I-get-back-home-from-totally-not-trying-to-avoid-a-certain-someone-you-piece-of-shit look.

Mitsuki was seriously having trouble understanding what transpired now.

"What was that about?" he asked Himawari as he got ready to go after Sarada.

But the younger girl simply shrugged, "I don't know," then she smiled as she handed him a cookie, which he took gratefully, "they were just giving each other a kiss when I got out here. That's all."

"Wait," the snake like boy did a full 360 in his shock, "they what?"

"Gave each other a little kiss," she clarified. "You know, just like mommy and daddy give each other every morning all the time...well, actually they only started doing it about two weeks ago. I think they said because you weren't around or something," she said as if it was the most normal thing in the world, then shrugged again.

"Anyway, it looks like you'd better catch up with Sarada before she gets too far ahead of you. Have a good day bye-bye!" and with that she closed the door.

Mitsuki couldn't believe his ears, then snapped out of his shock after the front door closed.

"Sarada!" he shouted. "Sarada!" he cried out running to catch up with her.

Those little shits.

**End.**

**This has been beta-ed by fanofthisfiction**

**(Don't hate me for leaving a couple of things or missing others XD)**

**A/N: iBloo, I cannot tell you just how much I have been longing to finish this for you XD Anyway, I hope you liked it! I hope I portrayed this favourite couple of yours in a way you can respect, as well as their nosy little friends!**

**There were actually six or seven planned schemes that I was going to add in, but this one-shot started going to the length of a short story with no chapters on its own. So I figured I had to cut it out for this story to maintain a comfortable length. That being said, I had to 'delete' many scenes and schemes from the story for length and time purposes. However, I am willing to finish writing them and flesh them out and post them as 'deleted-scenes' if you would like iBloo. Totally your call, but they will be like drabble length :3**

**THANK GOD I'M FINISHED! **

**To all who read, thank you so much!**

**Please leave a review and let me know what needs fixing. I am always up for improvement!**

**Stay be on point,**

**~Poodie**


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